Kiomo walked down the hallway with one hand shoved deeply in his
pocket, protecting a small vial that he knew the Lord Holder would
want to see. In the other he carried his leather bound notebook that
he held close to his chest. The information it contained should not
get out to the general population, though he knew the chances of
anyone paying any notice were slim. If his suspicions were correct,
though, that old collection of pages was now worth it's weight in
gold. Pure gold.

"Kiomo," Bryvin acknowledged and put his pen down. "Good to see you back."

"Thank you, sir," Kiomo nodded as he walked into the room, hand still
in pocket. "The personal effects of the crew of the Evergreen have
all be catalogued and are ready to be sent back to their families. I
would like to talk to you, though, about some strange things I found
among the passengers effects which might give us a clue about why they
were so far east."

"How do you mean strange," Bryvin's curiosity was engaged. He waived
to Kiomo to close the door.

He did just that, not wanting anyone to overhear what he had to say.
Walking over to the Lord Holder's desk, he took out the vial that had
been kept safely in his pocket and placed it delicately on the wood in
front of him. "I found this among the passenger's belongings."

Bryvin plucked the vial from the desk and as he gazed at the
contents one corner of his mouth tilted up. "Interesting," he said
looking a the small nuggets in the water. "Any indication to where
this might have come from?"

"Not from the North, certainly." Kiomo leaned back into the chair and
laced his fingers over his middle. "As I looked through their
belongings, I noticed that each of the passengers had two different
sets of knots, both in Carnelian Cost Hold colors. One set was for a
simple Holder, and the other was for a Journeyman crafter. And, I
found these." Reaching into his waistcoat pocket, he pulled out a
handful of small round badges. "They were miners. All of them."

Bryvin sat back fingering the vial "Well, well, well," his smile grew
slightly. "I imagine if that is all you found, they haven't had a
chance to report back. Anything else?"

Kiomo grinned as he nodded. "There is more. I put a gold bar in the safe
for safe keeping, an example of what miners have been pulling out of
the ground at a mine that is on no chart that I could find. But, the
miners had diaries, logs, statistical sheets, and a map showing the
mine dug into a mountain on an island."

"Hmm," he mused. "We'll need some expert help. I'll have to pull
foreman Rentoro from the silver mine. He kept that operation under
wraps while it was developed. He can review the charts and tell us
just what we've found." He nodded at the decision. "Recall him to the
Hold."

"There's one more thing that you might find interesting." Kiomo
leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "I studied the map
that I found of the island pretty carefully, noting it's shape and any
landmarks that might be useful. I followed the coast northwest
of the volcano, and I think I might have found where this island
lies."

Bryvin nodded. "Good work Kiomo," he said. "You've made a very good
start. Now let's see how we can turn it to our advantage. Shall we?"

His assistant smiled, already thinking of several ways it could be
turned. "Your Lady is the daughter of Xelfin of Turquoise Bay, is she
not?"

"She is," Bryvin smiled.

Kiomo leaned back into his chair, eyes squinting slightly as his mind
worked. "The island of which I spoke is, I believe, in Turquoise Bay
territory. Has Lord Xelfin ever spoken of such a mine to you?"

"No," Bryvin smiled. "But then he doesn't know about the silver mine
on the border of our lands either." He looked at the flakes and
nuggets in the water. "We are just going to have to go there and see
what we see. It's not like I can marry another daughter, now is it?"

Kiomo grinned at the thought. Many a Lord would love it were it
possible, but he conceded, "I suppose not." He combed his fingers
through his long hair as he considered his next steps. "I will have
someone I trust try to go through some of the logs and diaries with me
and see what we can glean from them. I will also speak to the Harbor
Master and see what the logs have to say about the Evergreen. Their
logs say nothing about Sunstone, so it would be interesting to
compare."

"Alright," he gave Kiomo a sharp look. "But keep it close to your
cloak. We don't want word getting out. If you trust this man, follow
him anyway." He nodded in agreement with the rest of it. "If this is
clear we should make our claim as soon as possible."

"I do trust him." After all, if Morin put his faith in Fymer, that
was enough credentials for Kiomo. "We should still have a bit of time
before Carnelian Cost Hold get's your notification that ship was
found. Perhaps if I could have your leave to ask for transport to
Turquoise Bay, my friend and I can search their records discretely to
find out what they know of all this."

In Bryvin's experience trust was overrated by he let it go. "You have
it," he waved his hand. "See what you can find out."